What are Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids?

Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids are generated naturally by plants. They are used as a defence mechanism and have been detected in a range of foods including milk, meat, eggs, grains and honey. Specifically honey sourced from the Patterson’s Curse Weed.

Due to best practice modern farming techniques, the Patterson’s Curse weed has been all but eradicated in Australia and this type of honey is no longer produced in commercial quantities. The Honey industry, in association with (FSANZ) Food Standards Australia and New Zealand, have effectively managed problems associated with Patterson’s Curse honey and alkaloid content for many years.

Australian honey is sourced primarily from Eucalypt trees and Leptospermum trees (manuka) which do not produce pyrrolizidine alkaloids.